Reflection
by LeahKim
Summary: Leah Rulin Rodriguez is beautiful, popular, and thinks she has the worst personality. She doesn't get how someone so beautiful could be so unreal inside. She runs into trouble, love, and reality and tries to become a better person before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

I woke up with the biggest smile on my face. After all, graduation was pretty much the beginning of my life. All those times in my life where I tried to picture what this day would feel like and it was finally here.

My dad yelled from downstairs, "Leah! Wake up now!"

"I'm already awake!" I yelled back as I thought of the countless amount of mornings he had to physically drag me out of bed because I had chose to hit the snooze button one to many times.

We didn't always get along but when it came to having a great male figure in my life, he was really the only one I needed.

Unfortunately for me I had failed to see that, leading me to a horrible breakup with a boyfriend of three and a half years who had been living with us for a year. Suddenly, he decided to make up some bullshit excuse about why he needed to go back home to California to get his life back on track. Four days later I found out he had actually moved to Wisconsin to be with another girl.

Lost in my emotions I found out that confiding in a best friend and making them hangout with you everyday wasn't the best option to get over your first love.

Kyra had been my best friend since sixth grade. The first time she realized she could move her hips while dancing to the song Too Close by Next is when she realized what power she had over any guy that walked her way. She never committed and she stayed a virgin until she was eighteen.

That all changed when a boy named Jay Rodriguez came her way. Some voice in her head started telling her that I was boring, and Jay was going to be the guy she gave everything to.

No best friend for Leah. Left all alone to fend for her self while her covered up emotions of her ex somehow found a way to travel back to her head.

Apparently I had been reminiscing about the past for a minute to long because the second I was about to actually get out of bed my dad rammed through the door.

His yelling never seemed to get old. "Leah!"

He didn't look a day over thirty with his unforgettable features. Every girl at my high school never understood how someone that looked like they could be the age of an older brother of mine could be my dad.

"Do you have any sense of time?!" He asked that question a lot while I was growing up. What's funny is that I always asked myself the same thing.

"I was thinking of what to wear! Calm down before you make me not want to go."

"Oh yeah Leah, your really not going to go to your graduation because I'm making you upset. If anything you would end up not going because you have don't have any sense of time! Now, hurry up and get ready. Your breakfast is on the counter."

"What did you make me?"

"I didn't make anything, I bought you cinnamon toast crunch." He shut the door before I could show him the littlest of attitude.

My dad always made me breakfast, out of all days why choose not to make me something on this one.

I let out a tiny scream while I stood up and stretched before walking to the bathroom. My bathroom wasn't the biggest bathroom but it suited my needs. It was beached themed. Two walls painted sandy beige and the other two a light blue. The bath tub was my favorite thing, along with the mirror that stretched parallel to the counter top leaving no room on that wall for any decorations.

Why was my hair always such a disaster in the morning? Who would have thought that having brown hair that turned burgundy in the gleaming sunlight would be such a pain in the ass? I brushed my hair of all knots and turned on my flat iron. Straightening my hair in the morning became routine. As my warm hair fell to my back, it reminded me to be grateful of its existence. Only because about six months ago I went to go get it trimmed and the lady hacked off three inches. It left my hair closer to my shoulders than I've ever had it before. My hair was now at my mid back and there was no way anyone was getting close to it.

I was so used to putting makeup on that it merely felt like I drew a quick doodle on a sketching pad, my face. Getting clothes together was by far the task that took longest in the morning. Rummaging through my closet and drawers was exactly like going on a shopping spree. Only except the clothes I found with tags on weren't for sale, they were already mine.

I found a white tank top to go under a black and white short sleeved flannel that I'd never worn before and I found a pair of black shorts that most human beings wouldn't approve of. I threw on some classic black and white vans that I had bought yesterday, knowing that they were going to be forgotten the day after I wore them. I made the decision to throw on this wardrobe solemnly based on the fact that it was an unusual ninety degree day in the state of Washington in a tiny town called Silverdale.

I took one last glance in my bathroom mirror. The girl in the mirror looked nothing like someone with my personality. Her brown hair that reached to the mid of her back, a caramel beige skin tone while standing tall and beautiful. Why didn't the reflection look like my personality? I was frustrated so I turned off the lights and headed downstairs.

Going downstairs I knew I would be reminded of the time by my dad as he watched Fox news. It was almost time for the 2008 elections and the time was always on the bottom right corner of the TV. It was as if time were begging my dad to remind me of it.

"It's June 14th, 2:37 PM, and if you don't hurry up and eat, you'll be late for your MANDITORY rehearsal."

My dad already had a bowl and spoon waiting for me on the counter. I went to grab the milk out of the fridge. Pouring my favorite cereal in a bowl and adding the milk.

"You and time must have been talking a lot this morning."

"Yeah, we're best friends. I thought you knew that already. Oh he also wanted me to ask you why the hell you are wearing what you're wearing."

I was eating so fast that there was no stopping me, leaving me to talk mid-chew.

"Well since he's right there I guess I'll tell him myself. Time, I wore it because it is hot as hell and because I can."

"Not good enough, go change."

I only ate half the cereal in the bowl because by the time I was halfway finished it had always gotten soggy. I rinsed it out in the sink and put the bowl and spoon in the dish washer.

"Sorry, no can do. You wouldn't want me to be late now would you?" It had only been three and a half months since I had turned eighteen and he still hadn't quite got the hang of not having complete authority over me.

"Why do you insist on making my life miserable?" Most kids would have taken something like that to the heart, but not me. I enjoyed making my dad's life "miserable" and I knew he really never meant it anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone at Olympic High School knew I was an only child. This therefore led to me being a spoiled bitch. The fact that my dad was the best part time real estate agent and the town's attorney didn't help that fact either.

I pulled into the school parking lot in my 2007 Infinite G35 coupe. The constant gawking was nothing out of the ordinary. When my dad bought it for me for passing the 11th grade it was extremely excited but now it was just another toy I had gotten over. Hard to say for everyone else I suppose. Having the car of the year was quite the attention grabber.

Walking to the building was the worst. Everyone wanted to talk to me about how excited they were. Little did they know graduation walking partner sign-ups were all the way back in October. Why was that an issue? It was an issue because at that time Kyra and I were "best friends." I was supposed to walk my way into the beginning of my adulthood with the person who completely left me high and dry for some guy.

Everyone had been sitting in the assigned seating arrangements that this miserable staff had put together. Almost all the seats were filled. I headed towards the front of the crowded auditorium full of loud seniors that I called my classmates. Kyra was waiting in the empty seat that was mine.

"Hey, did I miss anything?" I whispered. The rehearsal had begun. I wondered if I was the one they were waiting for.

"Hey, no" She gave me a quick and weak little hug. I hugged her back just to be nice but anyone could tell how fake it all was. More fake than a pair of 600 cc's on a platinum blonde the size of a toothpick.

"I missed you." She whispered. I wasn't sure if she really wanted me to hear it so I just pretended I didn't.

She elbowed my side too obvious to ignore.

"I missed you." She said it a little too loud, catching the attention of Principle Barnes who had been rambling on about what was allowed and not allowed while walking to the stage.

He cleared his throat and paused. The whole two rows in front and behind us were already looking at us while all the others started to figure out why he had stopped talking.

"If you two don't care enough to understand the meaning of this day for all the rest of your classmates then maybe you should excuse yourselves."

The both of us sat there waiting for him to proceed. After the ten seconds that felt like forever went by he continued.

To be honest I could careless about the four hundred and thirty four other students in this auditorium. These people were of no importance to me. They were merely bodies who wondered this hell hole I called my school. After today I would most likely never see them again.

"How have you been?" My heartless thoughts were interrupted by the whisper that came from Kyra.

"Can we catch up later? I don't feel like wasting anymore time then I have to here, especially if it's Principle Barnes lecturing me about not caring about everyone's feelings."

"Ugh, okay. Well we better talk because I want to talk to you Leah. I know what I've done was completely unexpected but it's only because I really..."

I cut her off with a quick shush. It had apparently been too loud because Principle Barnes had cleared his throat louder than the norm and looked in out direction. I rolled my eyes and tried to think of things that would block out all of the nonsense he had been spitting out for the past 20 minutes.

Just as I was about to look for my future in my endless thoughts, everyone started getting up out of their seats to perform the rehearsal.

The rehearsal took a long forty minutes and then it finally ended. I stuck around to take pictures with all the people who pretended to be my friends and love me for me. Anyone could tell they were only around me because I had what they all wanted because in all honesty none of them could really loved me for me. None of them even knew me. They knew of what I had and what I showed them.

I knew that Kyra would be looking for me so I tried to be quick to leave. While everyone was still taking pictures with each other I happened to sneak out of the auditorium unnoticed, or so I thought. As soon as I rounded the corner to the double door leading the way out, she had come out of the bathroom entrance across from the doors.

"Whoa, perfect timing huh? I'm glad I caught you out here instead of in there. It's so crazy."

"Yeah" I tried so hard not to look into her eyes. Her face was still innocent, but her eyes were different ever since the day she stood me up to be with her boy.

"I'm sorry Leah." She never said sorry.

"Sorry for what Kyra?" I was beginning to become irritated as she stood there in front of me. Trying to apologize for lost time.

"Do you really think I'm still hung up over this shit Kyra?"

"I know for a fact you are. It's like you completely ignore me now a days. I've tried calling you and everything. You could at least have the decency to tell me to leave you alone. I'd rather have you do that then not talk to me at all."

"You have it all wrong Kyra. I don't give a shit about what you do with your life. For you to think I don't call you because I'm mad is ridiculous. I stopped answering your phone calls because I don't care about what you have to say about Jay or Love. I never needed you in my life, and this shit just made me realize it." By that point I was saying anything to get her to stop talking to me. I didn't want to be reminded of my self at that point in time.

"You don't mean that."

"Oh, but I do. Go back to your wonderful life. I don't know why you insist on feeding me your shit when it won't change a damn thing."

"I wish you could see and hear yourself Leah. You're so damn heartless. You've because the coldest person. You're so selfish and what's sad is you don't even realize it."

The funny thing is, is that I did realize all those things. It wasn't something I enjoyed but I didn't care enough o change. We stood there for a minute while people began to fill the hallway. I knew nothing else was going to be said and I turned to walk out of the doors. Before I could push them open Kyra had yelled my name.

"Leah! I didn't want to change anything. I just wanted to say sorry."

I stood there in thought for a few seconds then pushed the doors open letting the unusual Washington sunlight beam down on my body.

"Remember class of oh eight. The ceremony will be held in the pavilion at four thirty. Family and friends need to be there at five." The annoying intercom was overly excited and the mentioning of the word friends made me want to crash my car into the office.

As I left the parking lot I turned up the volume of my stereo drowning out the laughter of students in the parking lot.


End file.
